Ebola Rex – Film Review
During a “Dino Lives Matter” protest, a captive Tyrannosaurus Rex is injected with the Ebola Virus by a crazed protester and escapes a lab to wreak havoc in Southern California. It’s up to a fearless General and an obsessed, renegade Soldier to stop it.
Right from the opening sequence of Ebola Rex, which plays out like a Michael Bay fan-film complete with explosions (albeit low-budget ones), I had a bad feeling that the film I was watching wasn’t going anywhere good. But, as I always do, I held out hope and stuck through the rest of the movie to see if it picked up at all. Sadly, it didn’t.
Not only is Ebola Rex currently the worst movie of 2021, but it is also disappointingly offensive and makes light of real-world situations that quite simply should not be made the butt of jokes. First and foremost – why is there even a “Dino Lives Matter” protest happening in this film? I understand that it was done as one big joke, but at the same time, it leaves a really sour taste in my mouth.
The real-world Black Lives Matter protests are incredibly important and relevant in today’s world, and making light of it with a “Dino Lives Matter” protest in a movie just feels like poor taste. And on top of this, the film’s main villain, Ebola Rex, is a mutated dinosaur creature that was made by getting injected by, you guessed it – the Ebola virus.
Courtesy of SCS Entertainment
When the movie isn’t being offensive, it’s absolutely hilarious in how cheesy and over-the-top it is. During the first couple of minutes, we see the titular monster walking around a city when a couple of helicopters fly by and shoot rockets at it, with explosions happening all over the city.
It’s completely ridiculous in every single way and it’s actually kind of fun to just laugh at how bad everything here is. It also makes me wonder how exactly these filmmakers dreamed up this idea. This concept seems like somebody was in the shower and thought it would be a great idea to make a movie about a mutated dinosaur wreaking havoc, and I have to commend them for not caring about how wacky their idea sounded and the fact that they just went for it.
Yes, it doesn’t make it any less terrible, but I do admire the fact that they made the movie that they wanted to make. It features some genuinely awful acting, visual effects that reminded me of Birdemic: Shock and Terror, and a story that’s over-the-top in every way. But, yeah, you can actually kind of admire their drive.
Overall Grade: F
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Cast: Mel Novak, Clint Beaver, Shawn C. Phillips, Mike Ferguson, Jennifer Nangle, John R. Walker, Matthew Festle, Erik Anthony Russo, Ken May, Jermey Ashley Pair
Directed by: Dustin Ferguson
Distributed by: SCS Entertainment
Release Date: June 8, 2021
Running Time: 72 minutes